1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of eyeglasses, and more particularly to an eyeglass lens holding system which quickly allows a patient being fitted with eyeglasses to clearly see what the eyeglasses frames will look like on his or her face before it is fitted with the permanent lens.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have been numerous attempts to devise an eyeglass lens holding system which quickly and easily allows an optician to temporarily fit a pair of prescription lenses into a pair of eyeglass frames a patient wishes to try out. U.S. Pat. No. 1,884,371 to Swart discloses lens holders for eyeglass frames. An inner split lens-engaging rim is used to hold the lens and an outer split rim-engaging ring is used to hold the lens in the opening of eyeglasses. Fingers extend from the ends of the outer split-rim portions, which can be grasped to allow the lens holder to be placed in the eyeglasses' lens openings. One problem with the Swart device is that it would not be expected to be very adaptable to frames of different sizes and shapes due to their use of a single expanding ring. For example, while the Swart device might be acceptable for eyeglasses with perfectly circular lens openings, it would not be expected to function well for eyeglass frames having undersized or oversized lens openings, or openings which are non-circular. Another problem with the Swart device is that its design would render the centering of the lens in the eyeglass frames's openings more difficult due to its predetermined set off of the inner split-ring from the outer split-ring.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,402 to Noble discloses a lens holding device for selecting eyeglass frames. It has a frame which retains the lens, from which several resilient legs extend. The resilient legs have terminal feet which fit into the grooves of the eyeglass frames and hold the lens in the lens openings. While the Noble device would likely fit a wide variety of lenses, its design with several legs and feet tends to create a "filled up" and "busy" look in the eyeglass lens opening, which might make it more difficult for some individuals to select desired eyeglass frames, due to the distraction caused.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,872,843 to Kono discloses a test lens for eyeglass frame. In the Kono device, an undersized eyeglass lens is fit into a transparent lens holder, which has tapered edges designed to fit into grooves around the inner perimeter of the eyeglass frames. A spring is placed on one side of the lens holder and is used to complete the fit of the lens holder into the eyeglass frames. The Kono design, with its use of a single clip, would not be expected to fit all styles and sizes of frames, and would not be adaptable to position the lens in the eyeglass frame in the exact position desired.
There accordingly remains a need for an eyeglass lens holder which is easy and fast to use, relatively unobtrusive, and which does not excessively detract from the appearance of the eyeglass frame during selection, which can be fit into a wide variety of eyeglass frames, and which can be used to position the eyeglass lens as desired in the eyeglass frames.